A Child of the 80s

Truth at the expense of nobility

I won't lie, I am the symbol of the 80s: yearning and willing to do what must be done to achieve my dreams and without parental guidance as they had other goals besides raising their kids. I stole from others that I could have the NES games I wanted, I acted the general self in all the schools I attended to fit in. I was the shallow soul who was what he had to be to fit in, a nerd who achieved in order to have freedom to find myself.

I know, what am I talking about? Trust me, read on and you'll discover. My father wasn't the best of people. He was abusive, always spoke his mind, and that meant we, my family, moved often and that I, a fragile child, sought imaginary lands to escape to. Friends, as I discovered, were momentary, but the turmoil my father created...that was always.

Born in 1978, I grew up in the age of Atari and the Commodore 64. Though I loved those days, when the NES came to be, I realized that was the future. I was doomed to live with a fam who failed to realize the glory of a decade. They hated new tech, didn't understand the rise of the PC, and I was forced to find other outlets for this glorious age.

I didn't receive my first NES until 1989 and that was due to constant complaining. I didn't enjoy going to the cinema until 1988, though I did see Superman III in 1983, the last time my father went to the cinema. I was a kid of the 80s who was stripped of the glory of a decade. If not for my father and older brother, I would have missed out on what was. God bless lax cinema checks and the VCR.

I was surprised by the wicked flicks my father showed my young self on video. At age 5 I was exposed to Creepshow, Christine, the Friday the 13ths and Nightmare on Elm Streets. My older brother dragged me to Big, to Roger Rabbit, and other flicks. Despite my mother's odd beliefs, I witnessed, late, the glory of the 80s: gore, imagination, creativity. I was a kid surrounded by dreams, prevailed upon by the great prophet John Hughes.

If you didn't grow up in the 80s, be upset. That was a time of creativity unmatched even today. The movies, the music, television: it was an age where creators were allowed to run wild. I am still happy to have been a child of such a decade despite how I was reigned in. Do not believe it was solely a commercial decade. It was subversive, awesome, totally boss!!!

These days I am a author, writing on dreams inspired by an age I was raised in with reckless love: Anti-Christ: A Satirical End of Days and Proxies of Fate.

In an age of Daniel Larusso, of Superman, of Indiana Jones, of Marty McFly, Rocky, Rambo, and where anything was possible. I saved my money to buy the latest comics, I begged my older brother to rent the latest movies, was happy when my father defied my mother and brought home the latest slasher. The 80s were a time when you'd wake up early on Saturdays, be proud to be a tweener, glimpse adulthood on MTV, and lose yourself on NES.

I owe my dreams and creativity to a decade free of commercialism and rich with creativity (an ironic comment, I know).

Trust me when I say, despite my current state, that I will always worship those golden days of the 80s where anything was possible. When time travel, ghostbusting, super-heroes, and even Pee-Wee could be. It was a special time when Goonies were good enough and wrestling was king. If I could relinquish all I had to return to those days I would. A time of Reagan, American nobility, and innocence. But I can't. Despite that, I'll always cherish the age of TMNT, GI:JOE, MOTU, and Punky. I am not bitter, just yearning. Relish what you have, for it is fleeting.

Log in to comment on or rate this article. You can even write your own!

You view the 80s through rose-colored glasses. Going back would not be as glorious as you imagine. You long for a time of innocence, but the innocence was in you, not in the decade itself. And you, at this age, will never be innocent again.

A decent read, but it fails to engage in the way that it could due to its rambling nature.

Ok, this does not seem so much like an article as a random spattering of 80's terms and references. It sounds like you have quite a story to tell so please take the time to tell it coherently. If you truly are an author as you claim to be then this should not be a problem. Until then thumps down.